“Whut's the reason you ain't out to the speakin'? I'm sort of lamed up myse'f--made the fatal mistake of tryin' to break in a pair of Dam-Yankee shoes on a couple of Southern-Rights feet. I'm purty well reconciled, I reckin; but my feet appear to be still unreconstructed, frum what I kin gather.” Chuckling, he glanced downward at the stubborn members. “But there don't seem to be nothin' wrong with you--without it's your feelin's.” “I was figgerin' some on goin' out there,” began the tall old man, “but I couldn't git there on time--I've been at the calaboose.” He finished the confession in a sort of defiant blurt. “You don't say so!” said the sergeant wonderingly, and commiseratingly too; and from where he stood on the top step the newly bre-vetted major evidenced his sympathy in a series of deprecatory clucks. The third man glared from one to the other of them. “Oh, I ain't ashamed of it none,” he went on stormily. “Ef I had it to do over agin I'd do it agin the very same way. I may not be so young ez I was oncet, but anybody that insults the late Southern Confederacy to my face is breedin' trouble for hisse'f--I don't care ef he's as big as a mountain!” From the depths of the foot-tub came small splashing sounds, and little wavelets rose over its sides and plopped upon the porch floor. “I reckin sech a thing as that might pester me a little bit my own se'f,” stated the sergeant softly. “Yes, suh; you might safely venture that under them circumstances I would become kind of irritated myse'f. Who done it?” “I'll tell you,” said Mr. Ezell, “and let you boys be the jedges of whether I done the right thing. After the parade was through with this mornin' me and some of the other boys from down my way was knockin' round. I got separated from the rest of 'em someway and down yond' on that main street--I'm a stranger in this town and I don't rightly recall its name, but it's the main street, whar all them stores is--well, anyway, down there I come past whar one of these here movin'-picture to-dos was located. It had a lot of war pictures stuck up out in front of it and a big sign that said on it: At the Cannon's Mouth! So, not havin' nothin' else to do, I paid my ten cents to a young lady at the door and went on in. They gimme a seat right down in frontlike, and purty soon after that they started throwin' them pictures on a big white sheet--a screen, I think they calls it.